


Rey Kenobi and The Happy Christmas

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: 25 Days of Damerey [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 25 Days of Damerey, Auror Poe, Christmas 2020, Christmas fic, Established Relationship, F/M, Florist Rey, Fluff, Hogwarts AU, Sequel, Wizard Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 17:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16858537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Six months after she graduates from Hogwarts, Rey Kenobi celebrates the holidays with Obi-Wan and Kes Dameron. While she's unsure if her boyfriend will be able to make the festivities, she finds herself surrounded by love on Christmas Eve.





	Rey Kenobi and The Happy Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place roughly a year and a half after the end of "Rey Kenobi and the Rebellion's Awakening," and about two years and three months before the start of "Rey Kenobi and the Heir Apparent" (But don't hold me to that time gap - I might change a plot point, which would reduce that time).
> 
> In this little peek into their future, Rey is 18, and Poe is 19; he's halfway through Auror training, and she's fresh out of Hogwarts, working with Obi in his floral shop in a Muggle village.

Winter had come to the little village in Kent.

Rey Kenobi sat in the front room of her adoptive father’s cottage, absentmindedly leafing through Dickens’ classic novella on the season, her feet covered in woolen socks and fidgeting on the ottoman before her. Towards the back of the cottage, in the kitchen, she could hear Obi-Wan fussing around with their dinner, and over the clank and clang of copper-bottomed pots, she could hear a familiar, beloved, boisterous voice.

While she missed someone fiercely this evening, the presence of one Kes Dameron was certainly doing wonders to lift her spirits. He had been invited along for the Kenobi celebrations about a month ago, when it had been revealed that his son would be potentially unable to make it home for their usual tradition of watching Christmas movies and setting off firecrackers at midnight. Kes and Obi-Wan got along like a house on fire - and it had only worsened, Rey mused, over a year and a half into their friendship - and she suspected that Kes was being a terrible influence on Obi-Wan, who was _supposed_ to be cooking without magic (but could easily be swayed by his close friend to show off a few ‘tricks’ to speed up the process).

“Happy Christmas, dear.” Rey looked up at the warm voice and smiled at the beatific figure in front of her.

Satine Kryze was undeniably beautiful, even well into her seventies; Obi-Wan and Satine had been casually ‘seeing each other’ for over a year before they called it official. Now happily engaged to Rey’s papa (a recent development, and one that caused a surge of happiness in Rey’s heart whenever she thought about it), Satine had moved from her former home in Norway (where she had worked for years as an influential diplomat in the international wizarding community) to the much less ostentatious English countryside. And Rey, who had for so long fought for a place in the world to call her own, was happy to have not only a father whom she loved very much, but a wonderful woman to look up to, one whom she hoped to think of as a maternal figure one day.

“Happy Christmas, Satine.” The older woman cupped Rey’s cheek fondly before Itsking and shaking her head at the noise erupting from the kitchen - it sounded as though Kes and Obi had broken out into a duel, no doubt using baguettes (which Rey truly hoped Obi had not Transfigured into real swords this time).

“I suppose I should go see what all the fuss is about, hmm?” Satine smirked slightly before sweeping towards the kitchen, her periwinkle, thin robe floating around her. Rey snorted at the sudden hush that fell over the back of the house - both men seemingly shamed upon _sight_ of the stately older woman - and then returned to her novella.

She thumbed through the thin pages towards the end and then set it aside in favor of her journal; opening up to her most recent illustration of a _mimbulus mimbletonia,_ she paused when she reached a few envelopes she had stashed inside the page.

They were all addressed to _Miss R. Kenobi, 24 Abbey Road, Sevenoaks, Kent._

Rey looked up quickly, hoping to avoid detection. The adults (well, the adultier adults) remained firmly in the kitchen, and she opened the first envelope quickly to read the contents for perhaps the fifteenth time.

 _Radish,_ she read, stomach curling -

_I know I have done nothing to deserve a second chance of friendship with you. I know nothing can repair what I broke. I alone am responsible for what happened at the end of my seventh year, and I alone take responsibility._

_For over a year now, I have been wracked with guilt over the things I said to you - and over things I said in my earliest letters, where I was determined to blame everyone but myself. I… I can see the error of my ways now._

_I am truly, deeply sorry. I miss you so much, Radish. You can’t know how I miss you. Celebrating Chanukah without you - the first time...ever, I think, excluding the year where I refused to attend, again, my damnable pride - only compounded that fact. I know you are in correspondence with my mother, and sometimes my father, and I respect their decision to not share any news of you with me._

_My life is falling apart_

_Life has been … better. There seems to be a battle inside me, between who I want to be,_ _the person you’d be proud of,_ _and who I feel like the world wants me to be. I feel like the villain in my own story. It’s … crushing me. This weight is becoming too much, and without you as my steady guiding light, I don’t think I can pull out of it._

_I don’t mean to pressure you. I only wish to repair what I broke, but if you deem it unfixable, then consider this my last letter._

_I wish you the best this season -_

_Ben._

“Oh, Ben.” Rey wiped her eyes and sniffed, folding the letter up carefully. She stared into the fire for a few moments, regret and loneliness coursing through her - loneliness only worsened by someone’s conspicuous absence - before she grabbed a pen from the side table and began to compose a response on a fresh page in her journal.

After many crossing-outs and scribbled attempts, Rey was able to write something decent, not too friendly, but not rude or dismissive, either.

_Ben,_

_I missed you at Chanukah as well. Maybe next year, I’ll see you there._

_I know what you mean about battles. I’m in one myself right now, as I miss my friend dearly, and would very much like to forgive him._

_But, does he mean what he says? Does he truly wish to repair what was done?_

_I want to believe he does. But I need to see it to believe it. Let me know, upon receiving this letter, what you think he can actually_ do _to fix the damage, and I’ll consider seeing him again._

_I hope you have a pleasant New Year, Benjamin._

_-Rey_

“Dinner time!” Kes shouted from the kitchen, and Rey snapped her journal shut guiltily and tossed it aside.

Obi had been less than pleased to discover why Ben and Rey had their now infamous falling out at the end of her sixth year - he’d been absolutely livid when he heard that Ben had humiliated her in front of most of the school, exposing her status as not only Muggleborn, but also adopted, and formerly homeless, shouting slurs at her to demean her during one of his lowest points. Obi had threatened to march down to the school and ‘drag him outside by one of his ridiculous elephant ears until he apologized, the overgrown bat,’ and Rey had taken great effort to calm her guardian down.

Funnily enough, one of the most steadfast pacifists she knew had backed Obi’s desire to kick Ben Solo’s ‘skinny ass’ from here to darkest Peru: Poe Dameron, legendary golden boy and soft-hearted sweetheart, had vocally approved of Obi’s plan.

Sweet, kind Poe, whose hands were scarred from Quidditch and caring for magical creatures, had flatout refused to even consider any attempt at reconciliation with Ben. It was, perhaps, the only thing they squabbled over with regular consistency. Rey - usually the one supportive of revenge and/or violence - sometimes still argued with Poe over the merits of letting Ben back into her life.

Poe never, ever forbade her from seeing Ben or speaking to Ben - but she could tell the very idea of her spending time of him put Poe’s teeth on edge (“ _I just don’t trust him,_ ” he’d last told her, somewhat evasively, as they spoke through the Floo Network. _“And you’ve got a blindspot a mile wide with him. Believe me, his friends are involved in some shady stuff, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt by it._ ”).

But, Rey hadn’t seen Poe for almost a month now, as he’d been taken on some super secret Auror-in-training trip by his mentor, Cassian Andor. So, she wrote her letter to Ben Solo without the (wise) voice of her boyfriend cautioning her against opening that door again, and decided to send it out in the next post.

As Rey walked into the kitchen, she was scooped up into a massive hug by Kes Dameron, who swung her around to the tune blasting from the enchanted radio propped against the stove.

She laughed wildly and hugged Kes back, and he settled her on her feet with a pat to the head. He put his palms on her cheeks and sighed dramatically. “Oh, I’m so glad my son convinced you to fall in love with him.”

“That’s not quite how it happened,” Rey giggled, going to set the plates and silverware out on the table. Satine levitated the turkey to the table, and wreaths of holly rapidly formed around the room as the candles lit themselves. Rey cooed in appreciation, and then helped to fill the water glasses with a flick of her wand.

“Really?” Kes didn’t seem to believe her, and nudged her playfully before pulling her chair out for her. Across the table, Obi did the same for Satine, and they all settled in their places; a floating knife began to carve the turkey, and Obi smiled fondly at Rey before kissing Satine on the cheek.

“Happy Christmas, everyone.” He unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap, rubbing his hands eagerly. “I’m so happy we could be together.” Rey tried not to let her disappointment show on her face - not _everyone_ was here, after all. She failed in her mission, and Obi shot her a look of sympathy. “I know, little one. I miss him too.”

“And me.” Kes wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “I really miss him.”

Rey smiled sadly at Kes and nodded, and then helped to load up everyone’s plate with turkey and roast potatoes, and Obi passed around the Yorkshire Pudding.

The meal passed merrily enough - the mood somewhat dropping when Kes commented that he hadn’t had chance for many family meals, now that Poe lived in London, nearer to headquarters. It picked back up again after Obi shared an amusing story about Poe fighting off some vicious garden gnomes for him (a story that, of course, ended with Poe befriending the little terrors, and accidentally becoming a quasi-divine figure to their society).

Sleepy, warm, and sated, Rey pushed back from the table about an hour after they sat down; the candles had greatly dwindled, and Obi had nodded off more than once. Satine rose to help her clear the plates, but Rey shook her head, more than happy to clean up for everyone.

She took the time to wash the plates by hand, accepting a kiss on the cheek from Kes and Obi (who then wandered off to drink port in Obi’s study), while Satine retired to do some reading before bed. Scrubbing thoughtfully, Rey stared into the bubbles and tried not to think about how different Christmas would be without Poe. It was silly, really; they’d only celebrated one Christmas as a couple, a dizzy, incredible Christmas, last year, when she’d been permitted to visit him in London overnight, despite still being a student at Hogwarts.

Her cheeks warmed furiously at the memory, and Rey patted them with the back of her cool, wet hands. Turning the water off, Rey finished drying the plates with the bright yellow towel Obi kept near the sink, and set them to dry fully on the rack. Shaking her head to clear it, she trudged to her room on the second floor and changed into flannel bottoms and warm jumper; she combed her hair out and braided it back and returned downstairs to hang up the stockings with Obi.

After the stockings were hung (with care!), she, Kes, Obi, and even Satine crowded around the television to watch some Muggle movie that Kes swore by. She had helped Obi set up the television, and the DVD player, after watching Obi squawk and curse for almost two hours - Obi still didn’t know, but Rey had to magically rig the damn thing to run without electricity. She merely hid her wand in her sleeve and waved it minisculey to turn it on, and Obi and Kes crowed in delight at the appearance of the picture.

About half an hour into the movie, Rey turned to Kes with a deep frown. “There’s nothing wonderful about this,” she protested. “This man’s life is _terrible_.”

“Give it time,” Kes said, not tearing his eyes away from the screen. “They’re just setting up the conflict.”

“There’s going to be more conflict?” Obi demanded from the other side of Kes, where he was clutching Satine’s hand and looking more than a little teary eyed. “Merlin save us. This poor man. Poor George.”

Satine had already fallen asleep, and did not offer her opinion.

Rey grinned at her guardian and drew her knees up to her chest, settling deeper into the armchair she had claimed at the start of the movie, when she had viciously ousted Kes.

Just as George’s befuddled uncle lost the family’s money - “Did someone Confound him?” Obi asked, aghast. “This is a horror movie! My blood pressure can’t take this!” - an unmistakable sound reverberated on the street outside.

“Was that?” Obi leaned forward, frowning, and Rey straightened her legs out swiftly, her feet hitting the floor.

“It was.” She flew like a flash to the front door, not stopping for her coat or shoes.

“Is it Santa?” Kes asked, looking slightly confused.

“No,” Obi laughed. “Rey, darling, take your wand, at least!”

Rey ignored his suggestion and wrenched the door open, flinging herself out onto the front step of her home. And, just as she expected, a familiar figure was standing outside Obi’s gate. Rey’s heart pounded as she hurled herself down the steps and along the walkway towards the gate. She waved her hand abruptly, and the gate swung open, the enchantments falling away rapidly, Charms dissipating in the cold, late night air like breath condensing to fog.

“Oh my God _,_ ” Rey nearly sobbed when she threw herself into wide open arms. “Oh my _God._ I didn’t think you’d make it.”

“Neither did I, sweetheart.” Poe Dameron was here, he was really here, warm and real and solid. His lips pressed into her hair as her hands ran up and down his back, marveling at the Realness of him. She pulled away from the hug to cup his cheeks, her eyes as wide as possible while tearing up, and Poe mirrored her, his rough and calloused hands framing her face, stroking away her tears, and pushing hair (that had fallen from her braid in her mad dash out here) from her eyes. “Oh crap.”

“Oh crap, what?” Rey breathed, still trying to take this in.

“Oh crap, our dads are looking at us right now, and I was totally going to kiss you.” Poe’s eyes flickered over her shoulder, but Rey couldn’t be bothered to check for herself. She surged forward and pressed her mouth to his eagerly, happy to taste him again, the inimitable taste of him, heady and intoxicating on her tongue as she ran it along his bottom lip. He growled quietly, his thumbs stroking over her cheeks again before one hand went to her waist and hauled her in tightly against him.

Rey went easily and squeaked, the kiss turning into something much less appropriate for the middle of her street in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, no less, but it was only a distant part of herself that could summon a damn to give when Poe Dameron was here, and kissing her. It was better than Firewhisky or flight or -

“Do you mind bringing that inside?” Obi hollered after them. Poe stiffened and then huffed a guilty laugh against her lips. “I only just got the neighbors to like me again.”

Rey rolled her eyes and turned to glare at Obi. “It’s not my fault you set fire to their magnolia,” she said sternly.

“I thought I was helping it!”

“Yeah, yeah.” She tugged on Poe’s hands, and he followed her, his brown eyes wide and earnest. “C’mon, Dameron, let’s get you warm.”

They walked up to the front door, and Kes darted forward to wrap his son up in a bear hug. Rey wasn’t sure if Kes had grown shorter, or Poe taller, but the height difference between them was now more pronounced than she remembered noting back at King’s Cross a year and a half ago. Obi hugged Poe as well, and Satine shook his hand politely after her fiancee had relinquished him.

After that, it was a matter of making Poe a plate of leftovers - he eyed the Yorkshire puddings hopefully, but Kes sternly instructed him to ‘eat some turkey first, mijo, and then ruin your appetite all you want’ - and sitting around the table once more so they could all stare at him while he ate.

“How was it?” Kes asked suddenly, as Poe cracked open another cider and sipped it. “Your trip, I mean. Where did you go?”

“Oh, uh.” Poe’s neck turned red, and Rey frowned even before he next spoke. “I, um. Can’t really talk about it.”

“Oh, right, secret spy stuff.” Kes smiled fondly at him and nodded. “...Is there anything you can tell us?”

“I’m learning a lot,” Poe said evasively. “It was definitely...instructive.”

Kes beamed at him, looking prouder than a peacock, and when Poe was finished, he hurried to clear his plate for him.

The second Kes was behind Poe, and Satine and Obi stood to clean up the living room, Rey caught Poe’s expression change, rapidly.

He looked exhausted. Not in the way he had looked before his NEWTs, when he’d pulled a few all nighters and continued in his duties as Head Boy; not in the way he had looked when he was fighting the flu last fall, and he’d been down and out for almost three days.

No, this was different.

The circles under his eyes were accentuated suddenly when the smile fell away from his face, lines she didn’t recall starting to creak out from his eyes; his stubble, which she hadn’t noticed before, was more unkempt than she’d ever seen, and his hand shook slightly as he set his cider on the table.

“Poe?” Rey whispered, leaning into his side and reaching up to thread her fingers through his curls; his eyes fluttered shut, and he leaned into the touch almost desperately, his head tilting back. She set her other hand on his thigh. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Poe’s eyes were still haunted when he opened them, and it absolutely broke her heart - and terrified her - that he could look so miserable and still try smiling. Without a doubt, Poe Dameron was the best person she knew. She opened her mouth to suggest he tell her now, but he shook his head minutely. “Later. I promise.”

She closed her mouth and nodded. Poe grabbed the hand on his leg and lifted it to his mouth, his eyes squeezing shut again as he pressed a kiss into her knuckles, the back of her hand, and the inside of her wrist. Her pulse quickened slightly with his lips so near it, and Poe’s smile shifted slightly, his face regaining some of its lost vitality.

“Stop it,” she hissed, eyeing Kes at the sink behind him. “Not here.”

“Your room, then?” Poe murmured, his eyes hooded and suggestive.

She snorted and nodded. “Meet me upstairs in five.” She darted forward to kiss his cheek and scurried to the stairs - she tried to push her worry as far away as possible (Poe promised to tell her about it, and she trusted him to tell her when he was ready, but still, she ached to know that he was upset in the first place), excitement and giddiness at Poe’s proximity taking over.

Rey kissed Obi and Satine goodnight, wishing them a Happy Christmas as she raced to her bedroom; quickly, she cleaned up the piles of gardening equipment she’d been tooling around with, snagging her wand from her desk and waving it wildly, junk and clutter soaring out of sight into well-placed, well-concealed bins around the room. Then, she patted her cheeks desperately in the mirror, willing the flush to go down, and straightened out her jumper.

She froze in panic - she wasn’t wearing a bra, after all - but then shook herself. This was _Poe._ Poe, who she’d been with for so long. Poe, who she trusted with everything. He wasn’t going to care that she was in pajama bottoms she’d worn for two weeks straight, or a jumper that had certainly seen better days.

Distantly, she could hear Poe wishing Satine and Obi a goodnight before continuing on down the corridor - he paused outside the guest room across from hers, the one he always stayed in when he spent the night, and she shivered slightly, waiting for -

There was a knock at her door, and Rey grinned, flicking her wand one last time before chucking it aside. Poe stood there in a ridiculous Santa hat that he’d clearly pulled from the crackers downstairs, the red cap set at a jaunty angle on his black curls.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He half-smiled at her in the way that had driven her mad at Hogwarts, and his eyes swept over her appreciatively. His seductive expression fell away immediately into something more intense. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Rey crossed the room in seconds, Poe closing the distance as well; they crashed together, hands and mouths eager to assist in the reunion. The Santa hat quickly fell to the floor during their passionate embrace. Rey lost herself in it, her good, sweet Poe returned to her, and she lost her breath almost entirely as his lips left hers to trace a well-known path along her jaw, her neck, to the collar of her sweater, as his hands curled around the hem of the garment.

Things were just getting very good, when a throat cleared in the hallway.

They startled apart, both faces burning in embarrassment.

“C’mon, mijo.” Kes smiled at his son and nodded his head backwards. “You can catch up with Rey tomorrow.”

“Y-yeah,” Poe stammered, his face flaming red. “Crap. Yeah. I’m - I’m sorry, papa, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s not a problem.” Kes opened the door to the guest room and gestured inside. “I’m sure Obi-Wan Kenobi, most feared wizard cop of all time, will be greatly appreciative if you spent the night _in your assigned room_.”

Rey wasn’t sure if she or Poe squeaked, but one (or both) of them definitely did.

“Happy Christmas,” Poe whispered before he followed his father’s instructions. He kissed her on the cheek delicately and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I love you.”

“I love you more than anything,” Rey whispered back, grabbing his hand and squeezing tightly. “I’ll see you in the morning, Head Boy.”

Poe winked at her and strutted backwards to the door; when he turned and saw his father still standing there, watching him with what could best be described as amused disapproval, Rey could see Poe full-body wince, his gait immediately switching to a shuffle as he walked into the guest room.

Right before the door shut, Rey could hear Kes hissing at his son.

_“You didn’t even close the door! Amateur!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Day 4 of 25 Days of Damerey!


End file.
